


I Wanna Fuckin' Tear You Apart

by sunken__ships



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, One Shot, Sexual Tension, annie is a nosy fucker and also can't shut up, are they fuckin???????????, beth is Thirsty Af, catch beth drunkenly monologuing about how hot rio is, rio and beth constantly eye-fuck each other, ruby is tolerant of annie's shit but is also lowkey super nosy too, set before the last few episodes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 08:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15602364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunken__ships/pseuds/sunken__ships
Summary: "Annie leant in close, dropping her voice to barely above a whisper. 'Do you think Rio and Beth are fucking?' she said, speaking so quickly that the entire sentence sounded like one word.Ruby blinked at her again. 'Excuse me?''Don’t look at me like that,' Annie hissed. 'Those two have some kind of weird, super fucking intense sexual chemistry and you know it.'"Annie wasn't seeing things. She knew she wasn't. There were almost literal sparks flying between her sister and their gang friend. Something had to have happened between them. And Annie had to find out what.





	I Wanna Fuckin' Tear You Apart

**Author's Note:**

> so i started watching good girls the other week just on a whim and was taken aback by how amazing it is. and look tbh i honestly wasn't looking to ship rio and beth, but those two just have INSANE amounts of chemistry. like, you'd have to be blind, deaf, and mute to miss it.  
> i've been sick as shit the past couple days when i wrote this so sorry if it's a mess, i have read through it but it's unbetaed and my brain is mush.  
> title is from Tear You Apart by She Wants Revenge.  
> hope u enjoy! xx

Annie sat in thoughtful silence as she stirred her coffee. Or, at least, she hoped she was projecting some kind of thoughtfulness. Y’know, as if something had just suddenly occurred to her, and she hadn’t been sitting on this for days, waiting for the right opportunity.

She and Ruby were in Beth’s house, as usual, and, finally, Beth had excused herself to go to the bathroom. And so, knowing her sister always took a little longer in the bathroom to check her hair and make-up, Annie bided her time, to make things look natural.

“Oh my God, _what_ ,” Ruby said, sitting back in her chair for full effect, blinking at Annie.

Annie pulled a _who, me?_ face, gesturing vaguely. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’ve been antsy ever since we got here. You’re dying to spill something. So spill. Before you explode, or I lose my shit having to see you squirm like a two-year-old.”

It was the opportunity Annie had been desperate for. She leant in close, dropping her voice to barely above a whisper. “Do you think Rio and Beth are fucking?” she said, speaking so quickly that the entire sentence sounded like one word.

Ruby blinked at her again. “Excuse me?”

“Don’t look at me like that,” Annie hissed. “Those two have some kind of weird, super fucking intense sexual chemistry and you know it.”

Ruby looked baffled, but lowered her voice to match Annie’s. “Are you insane? If you haven’t noticed, our little gang friend is, uh, in a _gang_.”

“So?”

“‘So’?” Ruby repeated, screwing up her face in confusion. “ _So_ , Beth wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole, let alone her vagina.”

“But she keeps going back to him!” Annie insisted, slapping her hand against the kitchen counter.

“That’s because she’s weirdly addicted to crime, not our boss,” Ruby said. “Plus, he’s put a gun to her head, to _our_ heads, multiple times! Not exactly Mr Right.” She shook her head and sipped her coffee. “You’re trippin’.”

“I’m not trippin’!” Annie whispered harshly. She sat back; a compromise. “Okay, they may not actually be _fucking_ , but they’re definitely thinking about it.”

“Trippin’,” Ruby muttered into her mug.

“You _have_ seen the way he looks at her, right?”

“The way who looks at who?” Beth said, coming back into the kitchen.

“Nothing,” Ruby said casually. “Annie’s just digging for drama. As if we don’t already have enough in our lives.”

“But this is _fun_ drama,” Annie whined. “The drama we have in our lives is boring and life-threatening.”

“Those two words do _not_ go together,” Ruby said.

Beth leant her elbows against the counter, taking a swig from her coffee mug. She smirked. “Is Annie crushing on someone?”

Annie blew a raspberry. “Absolutely fucking not.”

Beth wasn’t convinced. “Is it the parent of someone Sadie goes to school with?”

“I don’t have a crush on anyone,” Annie said slowly. “But…” She glanced at Ruby, a small smile on her face. “It’s kind of along the vein of what we were talking about.”

Ruby held up a finger. “Annie, I’m gonna stop you right there.”

Beth put down her mug and stood up straight. “What is it?” she asked. “Is there some big secret between you two that I’m not allowed to know about?”

“A secret might be involved,” Annie said, and Ruby gave her a hard look.

“Annie, shut your mouth. Don’t do it.”

But Annie’s mouth was wide open, and she turned to her sister.

“Annie–”

“Is there anything going on between you and our gang friend?” Annie asked Beth.

Beth opened her mouth, temporarily speechless. “I’m… sorry?”

“Oh my God,” Ruby said under her breath, pressing her hand to the bridge of her nose.

“Y’know. Rio,” Annie said with a shrug. “Are you two, uh…” She wriggled her shoulders. Beth just looked at her, so she continued, smoothing her hands down her chest while she did awkward little body rolls in her chair, followed by biting her lip and scrunching her nose in a sexy way and miming thrusting, letting out small grunts.

“Oh my God, _stop_ ,” Ruby demanded sharply, and Annie stopped, albeit reluctantly.

Beth had a slight curl to her lip, like part of her was thinking of laughing. “No,” she said in a level tone. “No, Annie, Rio and I are not sleeping together.”

Annie could tell that her sister was trying to remain calm, but she decided to continue winding her up anyway. She squinted, resting her chin on the palm of her hand, tapping her lips thoughtfully with a finger. “You sure ’bout that?” she said.

“I am sure,” Beth said. “I don’t know why in Hell you would ever think that I’d sleep with a guy who has, on multiple occasions, threatened to murder my entire family, but I can assure you…” She leant forward again, dropping her voice to a whisper, “I’m very sure that I haven’t.”

Annie thought this over, and then sat back. “Fine,” she said. “I believe you.”

Ruby chuckled. “Told you,” she said to Annie. “You trippin’.”

 

The next time the three of them met up with Rio wasn’t for another week. Annie didn’t think she’d ever get used to it – every second was charged with electricity that made her jumpy. At any second, things could go bad. Guns could be fired, blood could be shed. Sadie could be left without a mom.

Part of her was glad that Beth had inadvertently become the leader of their little trio. Annie didn’t think she’d be able to face Rio head-on like Beth did.

But maybe Beth was able to deal with Rio because of the insurmountable, heady, suffocating unresolved sexual tension between them.

Because it was _there_. Annie wasn’t stupid, and she wasn’t blind, either. She hadn’t gone into this whole thing expecting it to happen. She wasn’t looking for sexual tension where there was none. It just radiated off her sister and their crime boss in waves.

In all honesty, at first, she’d thought she was making things up. She’d had to be. She’d been tired, or whatever, and she’d told herself that she’d seen things that weren’t there. But then, every meeting, it just became more and more blatant. Ruby was the stupid one if she thought Annie was lying.

And tonight was no different. The three of them stood near a park bench, rugged up against the cold, in a little triangle formation, with Annie and Ruby flanking Beth, just like always. In their hands they held two small duffel bags of cash.

Rio and his men melted from the shadows. Rio himself was only dressed in a black hoodie, same as always, no matter the weather, and the hood, same as always, was only partway on his head. It looked so dumb, and Annie often found herself distracted by it. _Either put the hood on, or don’t. You can’t have it both ways_.

To be fair, Rio was undeniably hot. He wasn’t particularly tall, and he wasn’t buff by an stretch of the imagination – at least, if he did have abs, it was hard to tell under that stupid hoodie – but, Annie had to give it to him: he worked that stubble and those neck tatts. And, sure, the guy was terrifying, but there were plenty of women who were into that sort of thing, right? Sure, Annie herself more went for the plain-Joe, easy-target, collared-shirts-under-sweaters sort of guys, but she knew that power was definitely, for some, a major aphrodisiac.

“Evening,” Rio said. He spared half a glance at Annie and Ruby, and then his eyes settled on Beth, and it was like a switched had been flipped. The air crackled. “You got everything?”

Beth nodded, and Annie and Ruby stepped forward to toss Rio’s men the duffel bags.

“Count it,” Rio said to his men, not taking his eyes off Beth. He shifted his feet, slowly, unbothered, his bottom lip going between his teeth as he raked his gaze up and down Beth’s body, like he was mentally undressing her.

Annie did feel a little uncomfortable. That _was_ her sister.

“It’s all there,” Beth said, keeping her eyes on Rio just the same.

Rio shrugged a little. “Gotta make sure. You’ve come up short before.”

“That was ages ago,” Beth said. “We’d be stupid to make the same mistake. And besides.” She stepped closer, and Annie absolutely did _not_ miss the way Rio’s head tilted back slightly, his lips quirking up at the edges. “That was before we knew what we were doing,” Beth continued. “But now we know. Now we have a system. Now we’re experienced.”

Rio’s jaw set, and his smile widened. “Experienced, huh?”

Beth crossed her arms. “Experienced enough.”

“Money’s all here,” one of Rio’s men said, and Rio paused, locking eyes with Beth as he ran his tongue over his bottom lip. Then he nodded, and Annie was studying the exchange so closely that she almost missed the bag of cash that was thrown into her arms.

“Need my girls to count that, too?” Beth said in a voice so low that Annie almost missed it.

Rio chuckled, and shook his head. “Nah,” he said. “You don’t get to treat me like that.”

“Don’t I?”

Rio sucked in a breath, that smirk still on his face, and Annie had the revelation that Beth wasn’t the one whose kink was power.

Rio stepped back, slowly, like it was an effort for him, still watching Beth. “You ladies have a nice night,” he said, and then turned and disappeared, his men close behind him.

Beth, Ruby, and Annie stood where they were for a solid couple of minutes, waiting for their hands to stop shaking and their heartbeats to slow down before moving.

And then Annie exploded. “Holy _shit_!” she hissed, clutching the bag of money. “Holy shit, Ruby, did you not _see_ that!”

“See what?” Beth said.

“Rio looked like he was about to _devour_ you!” Annie said.

Beth rolled her eyes. “Jesus, Annie, not this again.”

Annie spluttered wordlessly. “How– It was so obvious! You’re freaking married, Beth, surely you know what flirting looks like.”

“No one was flirting,” Beth said with a tired sigh. “Can we just go? It’s so cold out here.”

“Ruby!” Annie cried, whirling around to look at her. She spread her hands desperately, asking for backup, and Ruby just shrugged a shoulder.

“I’m keeping out of this one,” she said. “And Beth’s right, it’s cold as shit. I wanna go home. To bed.”

Annie sulked, her head rolling back, her arms flopping down by her sides. “Why are you guys like this?” she moaned.

“Grow up,” Beth said, but not with much venom. She shivered, hunching her shoulders against the cold. “C’mon. I’m dying to make one of those hot chocolates with red wine in it.”

 

Pay days were always something to celebrate. Sometimes the girls went out for a meal and pricey cocktails, or they went back to Beth’s and got wasted on expensive vodka and peach schnapps. Tonight, however, was a wine-and-cheese night.

“Doesn’t wine and cheese make you feel so grown up?” Annie said, her legs tucked up against her body on the couch. “Like, as a kid the idea of it sounded so boring to me. But what’s better than just drinking a shit-load of wine, and the only time you ever have to move is to reach forward to get more cheese?”

“I hear that,” Ruby said, clinking her wine glass against Annie’s. She threw on a fake posh accent. “Uh, could I tempt you with some more cheese, my dear?”

“Oh, don’t mind if I do,” Annie replied in the same accent, and reached for the wine. “And perhaps a dash more wine for you?”

“Oh, don’t mind if I do,” Ruby said, and she held out her glass. When Annie had put the wine bottle down again, Ruby passed her a cracker smothered in brie.

“Oh, why, thank you, m’dear,” Annie said, bowing her head.

“Oh, why, thank _you_ , m’dear,” Ruby replied, nodding in the same fashion.

They laughed, and Annie looked to Beth, who had been silent for the entire exchange. “C’mon, get in on this. We’re fucking hilarious.”

Beth was staring into space, gently gnawing on the inside of her bottom lip, her wine untouched in her glass.

Ruby leant forward a little. “Beth.”

Beth blinked, and took a breath in like she’d resurfaced after being underwater. “Hm?”

“Earth to Beth,” Annie said. She used her cracker to gesture between her and Ruby. “We’re over here being comedians and our audience is asleep.”

“I wasn’t asleep,” Beth said. She blinked again, shaking her head a little as if to clear it, and took a drink of wine. “What were we talking about?”

Ruby frowned, cocking her head to one side. “You okay?”

Beth nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just zoned out for a second there.”

“We’ll leave soon,” Ruby offered. “You can get yourself to bed.”

Annie gave Ruby an almost offended look. “Speak for yourself. I want as much wine and cheese as my body can handle.”

“Sometimes family has to come before wine and cheese,” Ruby said.

“Wine and cheese _is_ my family,” Annie countered.

“Stay as long as you want,” Beth cut in. “I’m not tired. Sorry for not paying attention; I just got lost in my thoughts.”

“Sounds like you need some more wine, sister,” Annie said, and yanked the bottle from the coffee table to top up Beth’s glass.

Over the next hour or two, Annie kept an eye on her sister. Beth was just as chatty as normal, but every so often she’d fall back into her thoughts, absent-mindedly rubbing her neck or pressing her thumbnail against her teeth. Annie didn’t want to pressure her into talking right away, but she hoped Beth would feel comfortable enough to come forward soon about whatever was on her mind.

When Ruby ducked out to answer a phone call from her husband Stan, Annie decided to gently enquire.

“So, did you kill a man, or…”

Okay. Maybe gentle enquiries weren’t Annie’s strong suit.

Beth frowned. “What?”

“You’ve been spaced all night, dude. What’s up?”

Beth looked mildly confused. “Have I? I didn’t notice.”

Annie sighed. “Look, if this is about the Rio thing, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you’d sleep with a guy who’s, like, actually super dangerous. I’m not gonna deny that there’s some kind of attraction there, but I’ll drop it from now on if you want me to. As much as it would pain me.”

Beth wouldn’t meet Annie’s eye, and she made some kind of half-hearted sound in response, shrugging a little, hiding her face in the wine glass. She took a hefty drink. Her cheeks were flushed.

Usually Annie wouldn’t think twice about Beth blushing, what with her pale skin and the amount of wine she’d drunk tonight, but that blush _definitely_ hadn’t been there twenty seconds ago.

Annie felt her own face break out into a smile. “Oh, my God,” she said.

Beth cleared her throat. “What?” she said, her voice too high to be normal polite interest.

“ _Are_ you sleeping with him?” Annie asked incredulously.

Beth’s blush deepened. “No!” she cried. “I’m– no. No way. I’m not.”

“For someone who’s so good at lying, you’ve really faceplanted this one,” Annie said.

“I’m not sleeping with him,” Beth said fervently. “What kind of person do you think I am?”

“Don’t throw that at me,” Annie scoffed. “Your face is like a goddamn tomato right now.”

“It’s the wine.”

“We both know it really ain’t.” Annie gasped. “Is that why you’ve been loopy all night? What, are you fantasising about him or some shit?”

“No,” Beth said, too quickly, and Annie’s mouth fell open.

“Oh my fucking God, you _are_!”

“What?” Ruby said urgently, hurrying back into the room and sitting down. “What, what’s happened? Fill me in.”

“Beth’s sleeping with our gang friend,” Annie said, and Ruby gasped.

“Beth, are you for real?” she exclaimed, scandalised.

“No!” Beth whispered harshly. She put down her wine glass and leant forward. “I’m… I’m not sleeping with him. I was never sleeping with him. That’s the truth; I swear.”

“Then why the fuck are you acting so fishy?” Annie said.

“Because I–” Beth cut herself off, froze, and took a gulp of her wine.

“Keep talkin’, bitch,” Ruby said.

“He’s hot, okay?” Beth blurted. “He’s, _ugh_ , he’s hot, and I’m only saying this because I’ve had too much wine but not enough that I won’t remember this in the morning, so I know I’m gonna regret this so hard, but he drives me insane. And I hate it because he’s so dangerous, like he’s _so dangerous_ , and he’s held a gun to my head and threatened my family, and I will never forgive him for that, even if he, I don’t know, repents and becomes a charity volunteer full-time and works with baby animals for the rest of his life – I can’t remember what I was saying. But my point is that he’s pretty much evil, but, _God_ , he – his stupid face and the way he _looks_ at me is just – and his voice is just, Jesus, so hot, it’s just deep and smooth and his accent is – and his tattoos, I’m not even into tattoos, but on him I just want to – He just makes me… I just… He’s…”

“He makes you wet?” Annie supplied with a sympathetic nod.

“Ew, Annie, gross,” Beth said instantly, and then huffed, staring at her knees. “Yes,” she mumbled. She downed the rest of her wine.

“Girl, you’re kinky as fuck,” Ruby said.

Beth raised her head. “Kinky?” she said, sounding almost disgusted with the word. “I’m not… ‘Kinky’ is for… for college students. And Annie.”

“That’s true, I can be pretty kinky,” Annie said with a nod.

“Must be genetic,” Ruby said, taking a sip of her wine.

Beth gave her a scathing look, so she lowered her glass to explain. “I’m just saying,” she said. “In literally any other situation, you wouldn’t even glance in his direction. But you said it yourself: he’s dangerous. He’s, like, a bad boy to the extreme. You’re attracted to him A, because you can’t have him, and B, at any moment he could bust a cap in your ass. That’s kinky.”

Beth frowned. “I don’t think he’s hot because he… could bust a cap in my ass,” she said. “I don’t _want_ him to shoot me. I don’t have a death wish.”

Ruby screwed up her nose in thought. “It’s, like, a physical reaction,” she tried again. “Whenever you see him, it activates some kind of fight-or-flight response. Y’know, adrenaline. And what else pumps you full of adrenaline?”

“Masturbation,” Annie answered.

Ruby blinked at her slowly, and said, “No. I mean, yes. But I was talking about sexual attraction.”

“So you think I’m just mixing the two up in my head?” Beth said. She reached for the bottle of wine, which Annie all but threw into her hand.

“Maybe,” Ruby said with a shrug. “But both of you are right: for whatever reason, that boy looks at you like he’s a dog and you’re a raw piece of meat.”

Beth took a slow breath in and out. “Uh-huh,” she said, her voice weak, and filled her glass almost up to the brim.

“I fucking told you,” Annie growled, jabbing a finger at Ruby, her face scrunched into a victorious grin. “Didn’t I fucking tell you?”

Ruby chuckled. “Yeah, okay, fine, you win.”

“I knew it,” Annie said, more to herself than anyone else.

Beth groaned and flopped back in her chair, the wine sloshing around in her glass wildly, only just not spilling onto the floor. “I’m a mess,” she lamented.

“Everyone has their weirdos,” Ruby reassured her. “You can’t decide who you’re horny for.”

“I had a crush on one of Dad’s friends when I was fourteen,” Annie said. “Lasted, like, two years.”

Beth’s eyes widened. “Who?” she cried. “How did I not know about this?”

“I’m not saying who. It’s embarrassing.”

“Just tell me.”

“Fine. It was Joe.”

Beth thought for a moment, taking her mind back. She pouted her lips as she mulled it over. “Eh, I can kinda see where you were coming from. But it’s still weird.”

“I never said it wasn’t,” Annie said. “In fact, I said the _opposite_ of that.”

“That’s true, she did,” Ruby said. “And, Hell, in college, I had a thing for this girl in one of my classes–”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Annie said, throwing up her free hand. “A _girl_? You like girls?”

“I…” Ruby looked like a deer in headlights. “I don’t know. It was a one-time… thing. We didn’t date or whatever. Nothing happened. And then I met Stan, so it doesn’t matter.”

“That’s not weird,” Annie said, sitting back. “That’s just normal. That’s totally not what we’re talking about right now. Think of someone weirder.”

“She was a gothic Satanist,” Ruby said. “She wore fishnet stockings and corsets and had about fifty piercings. That weird enough for you?”

“That’s more like it!” Annie said. She gestured to Beth, smiling brightly. “See, Beth? Rio’s just your gothic Satanist girl.”

Beth had that spaced-out look on her face again, and Annie clicked her fingers close to her face. “Beth.”

Beth shook herself out of her stupor. “Yes!” she said. “Yep, no, I agree. With everything.”

“She’s thinkin’ ’bout that gangsta dick,” Annie said to Ruby.

“I am _not_ thinking about…” Beth sighed. “Okay, fine. But I was not thinking about his _dick_.”

“So,” Ruby said with a sigh, “when did you realise you were…”

“Desperate?” Annie suggested.

“Attracted to him,” Ruby corrected her with a roll of her eyes.

Beth sighed, shrugging hopelessly. “I don’t know. Not from day one – obviously that wasn’t the best introduction. I guess around the time when he showed up at my house during Danny’s party.”

“Back then?” Annie said. “Whoa! Dude! That was _ages_ ago!”

“And then he…” Beth took a large swig of wine. “We met up, when that FBI guy was on our trail, and they wanted to know how I knew him. Rio. And, yeah, so I met up with Rio, and it was just the two of us in my car, and, Jesus, God, he was so close to me and he smelled good. Like, you wouldn’t think so, like you’d think he’d smell of cigarettes or something, but he smelled _good_ , and he was just looking at me and talking to me in that voice of his, except it was even more, like, intimate, you know? Like it was low and soft and _ugh_ , and _then_ he suggested telling the FBI that the two of us had had an affair, and he had this stupid smile on his face when he said it. Like, he was half-joking, but also totally not joking, and I tried to tell myself that I was just, I don’t know, sex-starved after the whole Dean thing, but...”

“Whoa, whoa, back up,” Ruby said. “The two of you met in your car? Alone?”

“He ambushed me,” Beth said. “I didn’t arrange it.”

“And exactly how many secret meetings have just the two of you had?”

Beth turned pink again, and mumbled something into her wine glass as she took another drink.

“You’re probably gonna wanna speak up a bit there,” Annie prompted.

Beth swallowed her mouthful. “I don’t know,” she said. “A couple. Not many. I guess.”

“How many is ‘a couple’?” Ruby said.

Beth huffed and threw her free hand into the air. “I don’t know! I wasn’t counting! Upwards of five, but less than ten? Something like that?”

“Oooh, mama!” Annie said, moving her shoulders suggestively. “Spicy!”

“Did you tell the FBI agent that the two of you had hooked up?” Ruby said.

“I wasn’t going to,” Beth said. “I almost walked out. But then I said it. And I told this whole made-up story of the entire day in extreme detail; you know how I do when I lie to get something. And I told this guy that…” She took a breath, her voice dropping almost to a whisper. “That Rio took off my panties, and screwed me on the kitchen table.”

Annie made a gagging sound. “Okay, too much info.”

“It didn’t actually happen,” Beth said harshly.

“Sounds like you got it bad,” Ruby said.

“I’m not in love with him,” Beth added. “Nothing stupid like that. I just…” She pursed her lips, shaking her head. “I just…”

“You can say it,” Ruby said with a raised eyebrow.

“God, I wanna _fuck_ him,” Beth exploded, and immediately froze, conscious of her kids sleeping upstairs. She waited to make sure she hadn’t caused a disturbance, and then said in a hiss gritted out through clenched teeth, “I wanna fuck him so bad. Just rip off that stupid fucking hoodie that he never wears properly and fuck him. Just once, that’s all I need. But I _need_ it or I’m gonna fucking _die_.”

“You may die anyway,” Annie reasoned. “He could shoot you.”

“I’d rather die by getting shot than die from pent-up sexual frustration,” Beth retorted.

“Oh fuck, she fuckin’ serious,” Ruby said in a sing-song voice, followed by a laugh, which Annie joined in on.

Beth relaxed a little, her shoulders smoothing, and she chuckled. “God, I am so gonna regret all of this in a few hours,” she bemoaned, and drank.

 

The new week continued smoothly, and Annie tried her best to keep her ribbing to a minimal. But, you know, she wasn’t perfect. She was only human.

Beth took most of it on the chin, and only sometimes snapped at her to leave it alone. So Annie counted it as a win.

Soon enough, it was time to meet up with Rio again. Annie could see how anxious Beth was, counting and re-counting the money – Annie supposed that, now Beth’s little secret was out, there was perhaps some kind of pressure. They were all anxious, as was the normal way when planning to meet with heavily-armed men, but Beth doubly so. Annie couldn’t tell if it was excited anxiety, nervous anxiety, or what. Sexual anxiety? Ugh. _Don’t think about your sister having sexual anxiety_.

It was cold out, especially at this time of night. Annie stomped her feet and rubbed her gloved hands together as they waited.

“Could your boyfriend be a little more punctual next time?” she whispered to Beth.

Beth shot her a glare over her shoulder. “Shut up. Don’t say stuff like that.”

Annie pulled a face. “Sorry,” she grumbled.

“They’ll be here,” Ruby reassured her. “Stop whining.”

Annie heard footsteps approaching, and then Rio and his bodyguards came into view from behind a tree. Rio was still wearing that stupid hoodie, his hands shoved into his pockets.

“How is he not freezing?” Annie stage-whispered to Ruby, and Ruby shushed her.

“You got the money?” Rio said, straight off the bat.

“What, we don’t even get a ‘hello’ now?” Beth said.

Rio cocked his head at her. “Oh, my bad,” he said, not sounding the least bit sorry. He pressed a hand to his chest. “Hope I didn’t offend you. That’s my main priority, right? Not like I got anything else to worry about.”

Beth huffed, her breath curling out in front of her face like smoke. “Wow, okay, message received. You don’t like ‘hello’s.” She nodded to Annie and Ruby, and they stepped forward to toss the duffel bags over.

Beth shifted her stance, one hip jutting out. “You gonna make them count it again?”

Rio regarded her with hooded eyes, licking his bottom lip into his mouth and letting his teeth graze over it. Thinking. Annie could see Beth’s shoulders tense slightly from behind. “What you think?” Rio said. His head cocked to the other side. “You gonna wait patiently this time?”

 _God, he makes everything sound so sexual_ , Annie went to say to Ruby, but as soon as she shifted her gaze, Ruby gave her a hard look that screamed, _Don’t say a fucking word_.

“How patient am I gonna have to be?” Beth said, crossing her arms, and Rio chuckled.

“You got some fight in you tonight, huh?” he said. He waved to his men, just a movement of the hand, and they bobbed down to start counting.

“It’s cold,” Beth explained with a shrug. “It’s late. I got kids at home. All of us do.”

“Then you should’ve picked a different side hustle,” Rio said.

Beth huffed a laugh, which made Rio smile.

“Maybe I just need something to warm me up,” Beth said, and Annie’s eyes widened in shock. She went to turn to Ruby again, and Ruby gave her another look.

Rio bit his lower lip again, raising his eyebrows ever so slightly. “Oh yeah?”

Beth uncrossed her arms, sliding her hands down her sides until they slotted into the back pockets of her jeans. “Yeah,” was all she said, her voice totally unlike anything that Annie had ever heard before, and, honestly, hopefully never again.

Rio shifted, widening his stance, crossing one arm over his chest. His other hand went to his mouth, his thumb pressing against his lower lip. “Like one of those hot chocolates with red wine or some shit in it, right? That’s what you people drink?”

He was smiling. Joking. Flirting.

Annie was a whirlwind of emotions. On one hand, ew, she did not need to see such blatant, sexual flirting with her sister. On the other, since when had her sister become so cool that she could flirt with a crime boss?

“Amongst other things,” Beth said. “I’d never say no to something a little stronger. Something smoother. But I don’t mind things being a little rough, either.”

Rio didn’t seem to have a response to that; he just stared at Beth, then pressed his lips together and glanced down, obviously trying not to smile.

It was a motion that Annie had seen plenty of times before. It was the male version of trying to play things off like the person you’d been talking to hadn’t just short-circuited your brain; trying to compose yourself.

Annie was almost vibrating with the urge to say something to Ruby, but Ruby gave her _I’m genuinely mad at you, stop it_ eyes and twitched her hand slightly, saying _I’m gonna slap you as soon as I’m able to_.

Rio’s men rose and one of them murmured something to Rio, and Rio nodded. The other man threw the payment to Ruby, and Ruby caught it with two hands.

Rio looked Beth up and down again, and then said, “Till next week.”

“Always a pleasure,” Beth said.

Rio went to move away, but paused. “One more thing,” he said. He jerked his chin to Ruby. “You two been lookin’ at each other all night. You better not be hiding somethin’ from me.”

Beth turned around to look at Ruby and Annie. “What does he mean, you two have been looking at each other?” she hissed.

“We haven’t,” Ruby hissed back, and then said more loudly, “We haven’t. Been looking at each other.”

“You got somethin’ to hide?” Rio said, stepping closer.

“No!” Annie said quickly, shuffling a step back. “No, we don’t. We really don’t. I was just being stupid, I’m sorry.”

“What were all those looks for then, huh?” Rio said. “Answer me.”

“Yeah, Annie,” Beth ground out, “what were all those looks for?”

“Do you have a thing for Beth?” Annie blurted.

There was a pause. Ruby his her face behind her hand. “Oh my God,” she muttered.

Beth looked about two seconds away from grabbing Rio’s gun and shooting Annie herself.

“What you say?” Rio said, giving Annie a look that said a similar thing.

Annie winced, but knew she’d already come too far to back out. “That’s what I kept looking at Ruby for. Just, y’know, gossiping. Because you and Beth seem…”

“Annie…” Beth growled.

“You guys look like you have a thing for each other, or something,” Annie said. “I’m sorry. Forget I said anything.”

“Your sister said she had a thing for me?” Rio said, sounding bewildered.

Beth whirled around to face him. “Oh my God, _no_ ,” she said fervently, holding out her hands. “No, absolutely not. Annie’s just being childish. This is strictly a professional relationship, I understand that.”

Rio took a moment to process this. “Aight,” he said slowly. He shook his head, huffing a laugh. “You ladies are really somethin’ else.” He went to leave once again. 

Annie really should’ve left it there. But she didn’t. “Hypothetically, though,” she said. “You and Beth.”

“Annie!” Beth snapped.

Rio stopped. Turned back around.

“You’re asking if I’d fuck your sister?” he said, and Annie saw Beth internally shrivel up and die.

“Please ignore her,” Beth said. “We’ll go. Thank you for the money.”

“Sorry,” Annie said with a shrug, and Beth grabbed her arm, about to march her away.

“I’m gonna kill you,” Ruby growled, and Annie yanked her arm back from Beth.

“To answer your question,” Rio said, and Beth froze in her tracks. Annie held her breath. The _drama_.

Rio shrugged a shoulder and squinted at Beth. “I don’t usually go for white, Suburban moms.”

Beth nodded. “That is fine by me.”

“Usually.”

Beth froze again. Rio gave her a wink, and then sauntered off into the cold, his men following close behind.

As normal, they waited until they knew that Rio and his men were well and truly gone, and then Ruby’s and Annie’s jaws hit the ground.

“He wants to _fuck. You_ ,” Ruby said in a low voice, slinking forward in some kind of victory dance. “Beth bagged a crime lord!”

“I did not _bag_ anyone,” Beth said. “We haven’t actually slept together, you know.”

“Yet,” Annie said. “But it’s comin’. Oh, it’s comin’.”

“Well, we know who _will_ be comin’, you know what I’m sayin’?” Ruby said, and she and Annie cackled, high-fiving.

Beth smiled and shook her head. “Let’s just go. I’m freezing.”

**Author's Note:**

> might write a random fic where they actually do sleep together? might not.


End file.
